Lawmakers have until Friday to pass the first of their fiscal 2024 spending bills, including the measure needed to fund USDA, or they’ll have to pass another stopgap spending measure to avert a partial shutdown of the government. The Biden administration also is scheduled to announce a critical update of the GREET model that’s used to measure the carbon intensity of biofuels.
Congressional leaders announced agreement Sunday on a new stopgap funding bill that would keep the government funded until March 1 for some departments and agencies, including USDA, and to March 8 for the rest.
Lawmakers have until Friday to pass a new stopgap funding bill to keep USDA and several other departments and agencies from shutting down as leaders continue struggling to finalize spending bills for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1.
Lawmakers return from their holiday recess this week facing a Jan. 19 deadline to reach agreement on funding for USDA and FDA and a handful of other departments and agencies amid an ongoing standoff between House Republicans and the White House.
Congress starts the new year the way it ended a chaotic 2023, with an unresolved standoff over appropriations for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1 and no certainty about when, or even whether, lawmakers will move a new farm bill in 2024.